


pearl diver

by sapphoblade



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Komaeda Nagito Being Komaeda Nagito, Komaeda Nagito Is Not Ill, Love, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, also swearing, apocalypse au, but hes got a robot hand, hajime being tied up in a totally non-sexual way but nagito still makes it weird, hajime has trust issues, uhh its not super gory but i put a warning just incase
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23926852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphoblade/pseuds/sapphoblade
Summary: what if it was the zombie apocalypse and we fell in love haha jk... unless?
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Komaeda Nagito & Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko & Soda Kazuichi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> aHH im sorry for making ANOTHER au when i have like 50 unfinished fics but i swear im working on em!!

It’d been a long time since he’d seen anybody. Anybody living, that is. Hajime vowed not to form alliances either way, since a friend of his passed away, he felt that working alone would be easier, tactically _and_ emotionally speaking. When Chiaki got bitten, it was as if the world had ended for a second time; he remembered holding her decaying corpse in his arms, feeling the heat of the blood, watching as the currents of red stained her already dirty clothes. What hurt the most was having to end her life himself, they’d promised to put the other to rest if they got into a scrape with the herd - but when the moment finally arrived, it hurt him more than he could’ve ever expected. He felt guilty and miserable and fucking _furious_ with himself for even letting the situation arise.

It’d happened during a raid; they’d hit jackpot and found an abandoned cottage with enough canned food to last for months, and though they were _always_ cautious, two stray zombies had snuck up behind Hajime whilst he looted, hurriedly collecting food, joyous at a chance for survival. Of course, Chiaki noticed the member of the undead, and made a slick move to cut its throat, but was caught off guard by a second zombie. Killing them wasn’t the difficult part - they’d learnt to ward off swarms of them and escape with ease - the struggle was staying completely grounded, staying receptive and wise, whilst exhausted, surviving on less than a meal a day and barely any water. This was an example of when said awareness was _so_ important, but he was tired and too caught up in the bliss of finding such a bountiful stash of food to care about his surroundings. If he hadn’t been so _foolish,_ maybe Chiaki would still be here with him. But this isn’t what she would’ve wanted, Hajime wallowing in self-hatred and regret - though it wasn’t wholly his fault, he still found himself wishing instead of her, it should be him.

He sighed. Maybe dwelling on the past wasn’t such a good idea, it’d been months, and he had a severely important task at hand - searching for food. Still tense from the loss of a close friend, Hajime had stayed underground, barely leaving, apart from when completely necessary - which wasn’t often, they’d collected an abundance of food on their final heist. When Chiaki was still there, they’d formed a small hideout in the sewers. It was gross and not particularly roomy, but it kept them safe which, naturally, was the priority during the literal end of the world. Others had settled there too, but with time, they all met their demise. It was expected, but each hurt more than the last. Chiaki hurt the most. They’d been notably close even before the apocalypse, and had stuck together, knowing they could count on and protect each other. But he didn’t protect her. And now she was gone. It was the fucking worst. Though, as much as it hurt, he had no choice except to keep moving. To keep scavenging. To keep surviving.

So, he muffled the mourning voices in his head and shoved his foot into the gap on the ladder, making his way into the pathetic real world once again. His eyes scanned the pavement for danger. It seemed safe enough, but he kept his knife out - you could never be too safe. Not after what’d happened to Chiaki. Hajime patrolled the streets, keeping his eyes open for anything sketchy. It wasn’t only the herds of the undead to look out for, though that was a pretty fucking important thing to be careful of, there were large groups of humans who had been driven to madness. With such a shortage of food, they’d resorted to eating one of the few things left - people. A number of individuals tainted by despair would scour the streets for survivors, either pretending to be your saviour - buttering you up, and making your inevitable expiration unforeseeable, or simply ending your life there and then. At the beginning only a few did this, but by now people had learnt to be ‘resourceful’ or cautious of those claiming to be resourceful.

He continued the same route he usually did, following the safest path he knew through alleyways and hardly spacious backroads, towards the centre of the city. The main parts of the town were deemed formidable - conveniently enough, the herd frequently gathered there, consuming anyone who dared to enter. However, Hajime had practiced masking his scent and avoiding the larger masses of zombies, meaning he had free reign over the supplies located there. It was dangerous, and he wasn’t the only one who’d adapted to have such skills, but raiding the city with this method was the best shot he had at getting some food, and staying alive. A lone zombie entered his line of sight and was quickly slain by the blade of his knife, a deft puncture piercing the creature’s skull. A second slice of his weapon formed a wound across its torso, which was shortly invaded by Hajime’s fist. He spread the fresh blood across his body, a cautionary measure for any future encounters with the herd. It’d only temporarily mask his scent, and for a short time at that, but he knew it was long enough to get what he needed. 

Once he was mildly protected, his walk through the narrow corridor resumed, following the familiar tracks that were now littered with rotting bodies. Choosing a building that seemed most undamaged, he stepped inside - doing his best to avoid zombies, and killing the ones he stumbled upon with haste. He roamed around the building once he’d closed the doors behind him; it was unlikely that anything would - or could - follow, so he was pretty much safe to stroll around as he wished. Hajime took what he could: a couple of cans that still seemed consumable, some bottles of clean water and whatever ammo he could find. Though guns weren’t generally ideal - the noise brought chaos, notifying the herd to wherever you were - it was beneficial to have one to hand, especially if you were already caught in a crowd and needed a quick escape. The building didn’t hold anything special, but the sun was setting, and he figured that whatever he’d gathered would have to be enough. For now, at least.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they finally meet each other!! also its not super relevant, but fyi - nagito, kazuichi and fuyuhiko are all childhood friends that stuck together! also kaz and hiko r dating :)

Hajime moved swiftly, dodging past stray zombies and following the same route he’d entered with. However, he stopped in his tracks upon hearing the recognisable echo of gunshots. It wasn’t particularly uncommon to hear that kind of thing, but the source of the sounds were close,  _ very  _ close. The noises rattled him, his thoughts jumbling together into an incoherent mess. He was faced with a complex decision to make, in that there were only a few doable solutions to his problem: he could choose to just continue on his way, pretending that he’d never heard anything - though, if the shots were fired as close as he thought they were, the herd would have him corned in minutes, unless he was ridiculously lucky; or he could take a minor detour and head to somewhere safer to camp in, just until enough time had passed in order for taking the same streets home to not be a  _ total _ deathwish. 

Though the latter seemed more appealing, he’d be risking an unfortunate encounter with whoever was stupid enough to draw the herd out when this region was currently mostly empty. Then again, he’d rather have to deal with a couple of batshit-crazy humans than an army of zombies. Pulling his knife out, he began walking towards one of the buildings on the taller side. Hajime figured that being armed and having higher ground would give him an advantage, so he could probably get by for the night. At least, that’s what he thought before he heard some kind of commotion behind him, along with a string of expletives being shouted. The group hadn’t seemed to have spotted him, so he ducked behind a wall, beginning to listen intently on their dispute.

“Shit! Dude, you can’t keep using your ‘luck cycle’ as an excuse. It literally doesn’t even make sense!”

“Kazuichi, you’ve known me for almost the entirety of my life, and you  _ still  _ don’t believe me? I’ve provided you with plenty of examples of the cycle taking place. Besides, why would someone as lowly as myself even bother to make excuses for my inadequacies? I’m simply being honest.”

“Oh my god. Hiko? Are you hearing this bullshit? He almost got us fuckin’ killed and he won’t even own up to it!” 

“Yes, I can hear both of you idiots. But the louder we are, the more at risk we are - if you dumbasses haven’t caught on by now, noises attract the herd. Plus, this place is always full of scavengers, and we’re not safe from them either. So, would you both kindly shut the fuck up?”

Hajime heard an exasperated sigh escape either of the boys, followed by footsteps coming in his direction.  _ Shit.  _ He had no time to act - the trio he’d been eavesdropping on stood in front of him, face to face. The group was comprised of: a surprisingly short boy with a shaved head, who was standing a step closer than the others - and seemingly the leader of the group, despite his petite frame; the second had long, bleached hair (his natural shade was still obvious, it’d been a long time since anyone had had access to hair supplies, and his black roots were very apparent, though he’d donned a damaged, grey beanie, masking a portion of his hair) and wore a pair of muted-green dungarees decorated with tools; the final boy stood further behind the others, but he stood out regardless, due to having bright-white, wavy hair and worrying pale skin, with a large, green coat obscuring the majority of his thin form. Once the tallest boy caught his stare, he paused. Embarrassment gnawed at Hajime’s insides, but he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from him. Considering their circumstances, he looked relatively well-kept. He even looked kind of ...pretty.  _ Wait what- What am I thinking? I’ve just bumped into a bunch of strangers in the middle of the fucking apocalypse, and my first though is that one of them’s kinda cute? God, maybe I am going insane.  _


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> woah hajime gets captured aHHHhh ...this definitely wasn't just an excuse to write hajime being tied up i swear-

He was taking a second to recollect his thoughts, in order to form some sort of half-hearted introduction that at least would make an  _ ounce _ of sense, but the leader of the group beat him to it - quite literally - and Hajime felt like he’d been completely frozen in time, simply forced to watch as the man before him swung a heavy punch towards his face, a hit strong enough to knock him out. And it did exactly that. As he felt the other’s rough knuckles colliding with the peaks of his cheekbones, Hajime’s entire world started to collapse in on itself, the edges of his vision darkening, and any sense of balance disappearing from his body, leaving him a wobbling mess of limbs that was quickly descending towards the hard, concrete floor. Before he eventually lost consciousness, he heard the tallest of the group shout something out, but couldn’t discern any of the phrases leaving his mouth.

When Hajime woke, he found himself in what seemed to be a bunker, or hideout - which made sense given the whole  _ zombie apocalypse _ thing. The room was cramped and dark, barely lit by some candles placed in a corner, and a low-quality torch held by the leader of the group, which was pointed directly at him. The brightness of the device stung his eyes, and his sight was still bleary from being passed out for so long, but his gaze persisted, observing each and every detail of the establishment. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. The last thing he could remember was being ready to head home (if you could even call where he’d been residing a ‘home’), before he was startled by a loud noise - presumably a gunshot - and then met by these three survivors. And then, for whatever reason, the leader of those survivors decided to deck him hard enough for Hajime to black out, which left him at the point he was at now, tied to a rusted chair in the middle of a bunker, surrounded by a group of people he didn’t even know.

The boys had turned their attention away from him, focusing on other activities as if they didn’t have a hostage trapped in a chair, a hostage who was waiting for  _ some _ sort of explanation for the predicament he was in. Hajime struggled against his restraints slightly, which achieved the purpose of gaining their attention, causing all three of them to turn around and be forced to actually recognise his existence.

“Oh. You’re awake.” the leader of the group said blankly, staring at Hajime, and once again pointing the torch towards his face.

Hajime let out an awkward chuckle, being that it was almost impossible to think of an appropriate response to a remark like that.  _ Like, yeah I’m awake now, but you’re the one who made me black out. You’re the reason I passed out in the first place!  _ The room remained silent, so he figured an actual reply was in order, “Uh, yeah I am, but can I ask something? Why did you knock me out in the first place? And why did you kidnap me?”

The tallest of the boys giggled a little, and the leader brought his hand up to his forehead, facepalming as if Hajime had asked the dumbest question possible, which he hadn’t. It was perfectly rational to want to know why, especially since the group was putting  _ themselves  _ in danger by capturing him. “I’m serious! Why am I here?” he asked, a little more exasperated than the time before. 

“Do you  _ really _ want to know? Okay, sure. You remember what happened before you got knocked out, right? This guy right here, Nagito Komaeda, accidentally fired a shot from his gun - and we all know that the louder something is, the bigger the chance of the herd turning up is, so we ran. I was hoping we could get back here without having to deal with any bullshit, but conveniently enough, we ran into  _ you _ . So I punched you. It’s nothing personal, I just knew the chances of you being crazy were pretty fuckin’ high, and at times like these it’s every man for themselves, or every group, I guess. We had to get out of the middle of the town quickly, and any conversations these days are either insufferably long, or end with someone getting hurt. I didn’t want the person getting hurt to be one of my friends.”

Hajime noticed the other two boys shooting the leader a look that said something along the lines of, ‘Awh, you just said we’re friends!’, which he chose to ignore. It seemed safe to assume that the leader wasn’t a particularly affectionate person, so it must have meant a lot to the others that he’d said that. Still, his reasoning didn’t explain why Hajime was there, sitting in their bunker, tucked away from the outside world, rather than on the street he passed out on, where he’d probably be dead or getting devoured by the undead. “I get that much, but why did you bring me here? Why didn’t you just leave me to die? I thought you didn’t want trouble, and heaving a body back to your secret base seems like a lot of trouble for a stranger you chose to knock out.” he said, mumbling slightly less than before - he hadn’t gained much confidence, but if the team wanted to kill him, they would’ve already done it, so it seemed safe enough to speak freely. 

The leader glared at the tallest boy, Nagito, and pointed an accusatory finger whilst he began speaking, “This idiot is way too fuckin’ nice, and he somehow managed to convince us to bring you back with us. Y’know, so you didn’t get eaten by zombies, or whatever. And you’re all tied up ‘cause we weren’t sure whether you’d gotten bitten, or anything, and-” he paused, taking a second to shoot a wistful look towards the floor. Clearing his throat, he resumed, “And, I know what chaos that can cause. I’ve lost people before, and I wasn’t planning to let that happen again.”

Hajime went quiet again, suddenly feeling guilty for being so aggressive. “Oh, um, I’m sorry. I know what it’s like. To lose somebody because of the way the world is now, I mean.” he muttered, glancing up apologetically at the boys standing in front of him. “But, um, would you mind untying me? If I’d gotten bitten, I would’ve turned by now, and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t win in a fight against the three of you. It’s just pretty uncomfortable sitting like this.”

After a nod from the leader, Nagito stepped forward, reaching out with a robotic hand. Hajime didn’t say anything about it, but he recognised how well-made it was - it would’ve been difficult to make that even with a decent supply of equipment. The fact that it was made during an apocalypse made it even more impressive, so someone in the group must’ve been a mechanic of some sort. Hajime looked up from the boy’s hand, locking eyes with Nagito as he fumbled to untie his restraints. Now that he was so close to Nagito, he looked even more attractive. The lighting in the room didn’t do wonders for his appearance, but his eyes looked prettier than Hajime could’ve ever imagined, they were a greyish-green tone, and so soft, so full of love - he was surprised he hadn’t noticed how gorgeous they were before then. As well as that, his hair was collected in a loosely-tied ponytail, with a few strands escaping the grasp for the cord fastening it together; the larger strands gathered on either side of his face, framing his handsome features. Hajime’s assumption when he first met Nagito was right - he looked downright _beautiful._

He was pulled back to reality with a gentle tug on the ropes around his wrists, which were still tied in front of him, and resting on his lap. Hajime lifted his palms slightly, hoping to help the taller boy’s apparent struggle setting the knots in the fraying rope free, but he only furthered his troubles. The tips of Nagito’s non-robotic hand began trembling at the sudden contact, but his hands continued to graze over Hajime’s, softly pressing against where the restraint  _ wasn’t.  _ Eventually, he almost held the other’s hands in his own, frequently brushing his fingers across the other’s palms, savouring the warmth of his skin against Hajime’s - the contact no longer seemed like a byproduct of his worries, but more so a yearning for affection. Despite the fumbling seeming far from accidental, Hajime met Nagito’s gaze again, reassuringly this time, and allowed a small smile to pull at the corner of his lips. A rosy tint made its way onto each of their faces, and the taller boy grinned back, finally figuring out how to loosen the final knot. The rope fell to the floor, and he lent Hajime his hand a second time, helping him up from the chair he’d been confined to. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nagito is a SIMP

Two members of the group had disappeared into a different section of the hideout, somehow managing to lose all interest in their captive. Hajime was thankful for the most part - Fuyuhiko, the leader, was far from hospitable, and the other was too attached to what seemed to be some kind of gadget to actually pay any attention to him, so it wasn’t like he cherished any of the time he spent with them. 

However, the boy Fuyuhiko identified as Nagito Komaeda had an entirely different approach to interacting with Hajime; he’d been nothing but kind, and was willing to spend the last few minutes genuinely trying to get to know Hajime, and he had been sitting comfortably close beside him on a makeshift bed whilst they spoke. Though, Nagito hadn’t  _ actually  _ learnt anything too interesting - sure, Hajime could recognise that the other was fairly attractive, he wasn’t blind, but that didn’t mean he was about to start trusting the other. He knew the trouble it could cause. He wasn’t willing to let his walls down, only to be hurt so much that he’d be forced to return to spending all his time secluded and alone, slowly rebuilding the barriers that he was foolish enough to let down in the first place. 

Regardless, he still paid some mind to what the other boy had been saying; but he feigned disinterest - as to not take any risks, or give the impression that he cared in any way. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the conversation though, and despite his reluctance to open up, the other boy had still managed to fill the silence with relatively entertaining remarks. Hajime had found out that the robotic hand he’d been ogling earlier was built by one of the other two people in the group, Kazuichi Souda, who had specialised in engineering before the outbreak. It turned out that the three of them had known each other for a while, and had been lucky enough to share a good selection of skills, so they stuck together as the world descended into chaos, and their bond morphed into something that’d help them band together as survivors of the apocalypse, rather than just a group of close friends. 

Kazuichi’s expertise in mechanics had come in handy when Nagito was unlucky enough to be bitten, but blessed with enough good luck to cut off his forearm before the infection had spread an unsolvable distance. Despite his success with the deed, mostly due to the lack of hesitation with removing his limb (which is quite concerning, but the apocalypse calls for desperate measures), he wouldn’t have lived long without a replacement - defending himself, even with a group, would’ve been beyond the bounds of possibility. Thus, through the amalgamation of a very talented friend, and fortune with finding metal scraps, he was bestowed a substitute robot arm. Putting aside the horrifying backstory, it was actually pretty cool, at least, Hajime thought so. 

The unease that the end of the world undoubtedly carried was apparent, and openly overshadowed every word they spoke, despite that, Hajime found that just sitting and talking with Nagito was really... Refreshing. He’d missed moments like these. Moments away from the horror of the outside world, akin to the days he’d once shared with Chiaki - Hajime could almost imagine a reality where he’d get the privilege of spending time with Nagito in normal circumstances, just like they were average students, in an average school, living an average life. Almost like they were still teenagers, and ones who didn’t have to worry about the impending doom of the apocalypse. If only. The more he thought about it, the more an emotion he couldn’t quite place continued to worm its way into his brain; it was close to nostalgia, but still something different, he just couldn’t find the right words to describe it _.  _ Was it the feeling of yearning? Maybe, a feeling of pure, unobscured  _ hope _ ?

A blanket of quiet fell over the room for a minute - urging Hajime to remember that he  _ wasn’t _ planning to warm up to Nagito, but he should at least try to respond to what the other was saying. He might struggle trusting people, but that didn’t mean he had no manners - although, it was true that he could  _ kind of  _ be an asshole sometimes. Hopefully, this wasn’t one of those ‘times’.

An embarrassingly loud grumble escaped from Hajime’s stomach, breaking the awkward silence. The sound seemed to trigger something in Nagito, because immediately after recognising the noise, he stood up from beside the other and began apologising profusely, “Ah, Hinata-kun, I am so,  _ so  _ sorry! Forgive me for not asking earlier, but would you care for some food? Anything to drink?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t really know,” He said, the pitch of his voice rising slightly near the end. He  _ did  _ want food, but he knew he had a decent amount at home, so he could probably refrain from taking anything from this group. For now, at least. It depended on how long they were intending to keep him here. “I know how scarce resources are - and I’m assuming you don’t have a particularly elaborate selection of food - so I’d probably feel kind of guilty having anything. So, I’ll be fine for now, but thanks. I, uh, appreciate it.” He cracked a small smile once he’d spoken, a subtle attempt to assure Nagito that he was, in fact, totally okay and definitely not in need of any food. 

The act probably wasn’t convincing, but it was enough for Nagito to take his seat again. He spoke softer this time, his tone a lot less urgent, but undercurrents of worry still shone through, “Hm, I see. And you’re completely sure? I’d feel terrible knowing that you needed something, but just you chose to silently suffer instead. I know you have no reason to trust me - and that’s fine, I’m not proposing that you start trusting trash like me anytime soon - but I don’t think you deserve any kind of inconvenience. It’s our fault you’re stuck here, anyway.”

_ Jeez, did he read my mind or something? I don’t trust him, but I suppose I’m being a bit too harsh. He’s not so bad, after all.  _ “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s alright, don’t worry about it. You weren’t the one who knocked me out. Once some time has passed and the herd has scattered from the area, I can head back home. Besides, you’re, uh, pretty fun to be around, so I don’t really mind getting to know you while I wait.” He chuckled after he spoke, shrugging off his half-confession by playfully nudging Nagito with his elbow. 

“Ah, thanks. You’re fun to be around too, Hinata-kun.” He responded. He returned the playful mood and leant into the touch, though he almost seemed to deflate at the prospect of Hajime leaving. 


End file.
